Tuesday, July 03, 2007

I can't decide what to write about today. I have two things I'm considering:

1 - Our ward has what is called "Power Hour" once a month. In truth, I'm guessing that it's once a month - I've never gone. My husband has gone, and has taken various combinations of our children, but not me. Power Hour is a scheduled service project. I think it's great that we, as a ward, make the effort to pull together to serve each other. Here's my problem with it: 9:am on a Saturday isn't always the best time for everyone, and I can do without the guilt trips over the pulpit for not having attended. (Same with Ward Temple Night; Tuesday at 6 doesn't always work, but does that negate when we attended at other times? I think not.)

Last evening, I returned from my li'l errand run to find my friend Annie and her 3 kids cleaning up my yard. Turns out they decided as a family that Saturday at 9 isn't going to work, so they were going to hold their own Power Hour, and they used Family Home Evening to put their plan into action. We were the lucky recipients of a mowed and edged and weeded yard.

Props to Annie and her family! Yay for service! That's how it's done!!

2 - This morning we went to see the huge globos inflate on the field between Provo High and the hospital. We've always seen the balloons when we're in town for the 4th, but this was the first time we attended the take off. Very impressive, and the kids just loved it.

[Funny story about the hot air balloons: years ago, when my brother lived in Provo, and only a few blocks away from us, he phoned me early one morning (July 3rd, I'm sure):

"Hello."

"What's that noise?"

"What?"

"That noise -- what is it?"

"Oh, that periodic sshhhhhhhh sound?"

"Yeah."

"It's a dragon. Go back to bed." *click*]

This morning, as the balloons were inflating, we were promised "Great Music" to accompany the festivity. Apparently "Great Music" includes the song written by the 13-year-old girl - the Girl Who Won The Award. Or whatever. I listened to the first lines, and it said something about, "On the evening news . . . they all say it's a mistake . . . they don't love America . . . God bless our troops tonight."

It made me sick.

And it made me ponder where I stand, politically.

Here's the deal: If you want me to stop listening to you, just use the phrase "Liberal Media."

Honestly.

I love our country. I know it's a blessed land. I know our Founding Fathers were inspired. I love our freedoms. I love our Armed Forces, and I appreciate what they do more than I can express. My favorite monument in Washington DC is the one commemorating the Battle of Iwo Jima. Something about the soldiers working together to raise our flag just gives me chills and touches my heart. The first time I saw that memorial in person, my body felt like it was crumbling into a puddle of tears.

Sometimes, I don't know what to think about the war. I know that I don't want to hear about it over the pulpit. I honor the office of the President. So much so that I refer to the person currently serving that office as President rather than using an initial, regardless of what I think about him as a person. I get confused with the conflicting messages we receive about the war, so I take everything I hear about it with a grain of salt.

5 comments:

I know what I think about this war, but I also know that it doesn't really matter--my husband is going over to support it for fifteen months no matter what president comes next. So instead of being pro or con, I just work on being here for him. I have learned not to listen to the news, not to listen to the celebrities, and especially not to listen to the horrible songs. (Although the song decree happened years before the war.)

(p.s. that's twice now I've been at lunch and all of a sudden I turned around and you were gone. I waited, thinking you'd just gone to the ladies' room or something. And waited. And then I realized you were gone. I hope I've not been rude to have said good-bye!!)